Arrange lettuce on a large serving platter. Cover almost to the edge with chicken slices. Scatter tomatoes, corn, beans and cheese over everything. Layer on avocado slices at the last minute.

Whisk together ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper and drizzle over top of salad. Serve with tortilla chips on the side.

Thai Style Shrimp and Rice Noodle Summer Salad

Substitute any pasta you like in this recipe, but there’s something fresher about rice noodles in the summer.

If you start with raw shrimp, this salad takes on holiday status, but I admit the frozen cooked ones are almost as good. Don’t waste your time on the little cocktail shrimp, however — you will be disappointed.

The fish sauce in this recipe is important to the authenticity of the Thai flavour. If you’ve never tried it, you can buy it now in the imported foods section of your local grocery store.

If you like the shrimp tails left on, then do so for added pizzazz, but I prefer to eat this one with chopsticks or a fork rather than my fingers and I can’t be bothered with dealing with the little shells — up to you.

Thai chili sauce can be found in most grocery stores. If you have a choice between hot and sweet, pick what you think you will use most in your cooking, but if you select sweet consider adding a few drops of hot pepper sauce to the dressing.

If you can’t find fresh cilantro, then Italian flat-leaf parsley is an acceptable substitute, but you won’t quite get that distinctive taste.

This salad will serve 4 as a complete meal.

Salad Base:

1 package (10 to 14 oz.) rice noodles

1 lb. fresh or frozen and thawed cooked shrimp, peeled

1 sweet red pepper, cut into strips

4 green onions, sliced

1 cup each snow peas and bean sprouts, washed and well drained

2 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into small wedges

1/2 medium English cucumber, thinly sliced

1 large bunch fresh cilantro, washed, well drained and torn into pieces